by Amy Norton-Benfield, February 20, 2025
Living the Word: from now through Easter (April 20), we follow Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus shows us a loving God in his teachings, healings, and relationships with people pushed to the margins. His commitment to love leads him to Jerusalem, and ultimately to the cross. In our weekly church school teacher Bible study, we were discussing the text for this Sunday, in which a woman described only as a “sinner” tearfully approaches Jesus and anoints his feet with oil, drying them with her hair. One of our members described how they envisioned what came next as a… Read More
by Kent French, February 13, 2025
Living the Word: from now through Easter (April 20), we follow Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus shows us a loving God in his teachings, healings, and relationships with people pushed to the margins. His commitment to love leads him to Jerusalem and the cross. “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?” This is the question at the heart of this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 7:18-35). It’s not so different 2,000 years later. A lot of people in our midst are asking “What is going on? How are we to respond? What’s… Read More
by UPB Editor, February 12, 2025
Join us for worship on Wednesday, March 5 at 7pm in the Sanctuary as we celebrate this ancient ritual to help us remember that each of us is made of finite material, inspired and animated by the breath of God. Contact Senior Pastor Kent French at kent@upbrookline.org or Associate Pastor Amy Norton-Benfield at amy@upbrookline.org…. Read More
by UPB Editor, January 23, 2025
We are launching a thank you card campaign to show our appreciation to our Thrifty Threads volunteers, most of whom are not members of the worshiping community at United Parish! There will be materials available at Coffee Hour each Sunday in February to write thank you notes, or you can write them on your own and drop off at the church by Sunday, February 23. Did you know that in 2024 alone: TT volunteers carefully selected and packed up 2,440 bags (over 25,000 lbs) of clothing which they then donated out to their 15-plus partner agencies to help clothe adults,… Read More
by Kent M French, January 23, 2025
Living the Word: from now through Easter (April 20), we follow Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus shows us a loving God in his teachings, healings, and relationships with people pushed to the margins. His commitment to love leads him to Jerusalem and the cross. My preaching professor prided himself on assigning us scripture texts that had “a stone in the road,” meaning a theological idea that might be hard to handle in our modern context. He advised that we had to figure out whether to climb it, go around it or blast right through it. One of… Read More
by Kent French, January 16, 2025
Good News and common cathedral. One of the pivotal moments in Jesus’ ministry happens when he goes back to his hometown of Nazareth to preach in the synagogue (Luke 4:14-30). We call it his “inaugural” sermon. The congregation is bristling with excitement, waiting to see and hear how their favorite son has grown “in wisdom and stature.” Jesus preaches from Isaiah 61. Which is all well and good until he starts interpreting it, basically saying that the Good News is for everyone, not just for those who believe like we do. The crowd is so pissed off that they run… Read More
by Amy Norton-Benfield, January 09, 2025
We’re returning to the Narrative Lectionary for the remainder of the winter and spring, following along with our young people in Church School. We’ll spend the seasons of Epiphany and Lent in the Gospel of Luke, catching glimpses of God as revealed through Jesus, his ministry of healing, and his journey to the cross. My friends, we’ve made it! We’ve heard the angels, followed the star, worshiped the Christ child, and gone home by another way with the Magi. Advent welcomed in the new liturgical year, Christmas welcomed the newborn Prince of Peace, and January ushered in the new calendar… Read More
by Kent M French, January 02, 2025
Throughout Advent and Christmastide, we’ve been following “Words for the Beginning: Advent Reminders for New Seasons” from A Sanctified Art, diving into the themes of blessing, companionship, risky hope, abiding love, holy laughter, crooked roads and a whole lot more! Are you a planner or a just-let-it-unfold-er? Perhaps some of both? Ever had the best-laid plans not turn out at all like you expected, and the result was better than you could have imagined? Or ever just followed your hunch and seen where the wind took you? On Sunday, we’ll once again re-visit the Epiphany story of the Magi, those… Read More
by Amy Norton-Benfield, December 19, 2024
Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year, and this Advent, our aptly-named worship curriculum invites us to explore “Words for the Beginning: Advent Reminders for New Seasons.” From December 1st through January 5th, we’ll dive into the themes of blessing, companionship, risky hope, abiding love, holy laughter, crooked roads and a whole lot more! As we hurtle towards Christmas, we reflect on all that it took to get us to this point, and what I’m coming up with is ‘a whole lot of hope.’ And hope isn’t anything to scoff at, though it’s easy to give hope a bad… Read More
by UPB Editor, December 10, 2024
When: Sunday, January 26 at 6:30pm Where: United Parish Parlor What: An evening of food and fellowship with other parents and their teens. We’ll share a meal, play some conversation games, and make new connections/friendships! Why: Because God loves us, and wants us to have a night off from cooking that doesn’t eat into the household budget (and wants us to deepen our relationships with one another through shared mealtimes). Who: This event is just for teens (anyone who will turn 13 during this school year and up) and their parents/caregivers. We may be able to provide childcare and dinner for younger siblings, with enough advanced notice…. Read More
